Thursday, March 21, 2013

Solitary Watch on today's statement by AG Caldwell that the Angola 3 "have never been in solitary confinement"

A sketch by Herman Wallace of his solitary confinement cell

(March 21, 2013 article by James Ridgeway and Jean Casella, reprinted from Solitary Watch)
James “Buddy” Caldwell, attorney general of the state of Louisiana,
has released a statement saying unequivocally that Herman Wallace and
Albert Woodfox, the two still-imprisoned members of the Angola 3, “have
never been held in solitary confinement while in the Louisiana penal
system.”

In fact, Wallace, now 71, and Woodfox, 66, have been in solitary for nearly 41 years, quite
possibly longer than any other human beings on the planet. They were
placed in solitary following the 1972 killing of a young corrections
officer at Angola, and except for a few brief periods, they have
remained in isolation ever since.

The statement from Caldwell follows on the heels of a ruling by a
federal District Court judge in New Orleans, overturning Albert
Woodfox’s conviction for the third time–in this instance, on the
grounds that there had been racial bias in the selection of grand jury
forepersons in Louisiana at the time of his indictment. Subsequently, Amnesty International,
along with other activists, mounted a campaign urging the state of
Louisiana not to appeal the federal court’s ruling. In the absence of an
appeal, Woodfox would have to be given a new trial or released.

Caldwell’s statement–which was rather mysteriously sent out to an
email list that included numerous prisoners’ rights advocates who have
supported the Angola 3–begins: “Thank you for your interest in the
ambush, savage attack and brutal murder of Officer Brent Miller at
Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP) on April 17, 1972. Albert Woodfox and
Herman Wallace committed this murder, stabbing and slicing Miller over
35 times.”

Caldwell clearly states that he has every intention of appealing the
District Court’s decision to the notoriously conservative Fifth Circuit:
“We feel confident that we will again prevail at the Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals. However, if we do not, we are fully prepared and
willing to retry this murderer again.” Caldwell asserts that the
evidence against Woodfox is ”overpowering”: “There are no flaws in our
evidence and this case is very strong.”

These statements belie the fact that much of the evidence that led to
Wallace and Woodfox’s conviction has since been called into question.
In particular, the primary eyewitness was shown to have been bribed by
prison officials into making statements against the two men. (For more
details on the case, see our earlier reporting in Mother Jones, here, here, here, and here.)
The two men believe that they were targeted for the murder, and have
been held in solitary for four decades, because of their status as Black
Panthers and their efforts to organize against prison conditions. (The
third member of the Angola 3, Robert King, convicted of a separate
prison murder, was released after 29 years in solitary when his
conviction was overturned in 2001).

But Caldwell’s most controversial assertion is that Wallace and
Woodfox’s conditions of confinement over the past 40 years do not
qualify as solitary confinement:

Contrary to popular lore, Woodfox and Wallace have never
been held in solitary confinement while in the Louisiana penal system.
They have been held in protective cell units known as CCR. These units
were designed to protect inmates as well as correctional officers. They
have always been able to communicate freely with other inmates and
prison staff as frequently as they want. They have televisions on the
tiers which they watch through their cell doors. In their cells they can
have radios and headsets, reading and writing materials, stamps,
newspapers, magazines and books. They also can shop at the canteen store
a couple of times per week where they can purchase grocery and personal
hygiene items which they keep in their cells.

These convicted murderers have an hour outside of their cells each
day where they can exercise in the hall, talk on the phone, shower, and
visit with the other 10 to 14 inmates on the tier. At least three times
per week they can go outside on the yard and exercise and enjoy the sun
if they want. This is all in addition to the couple of days set aside
for visitations each week.

These inmates are frequently visited by spiritual advisors, medical
personnel and social workers. They have had frequent and extensive
contact with numerous individuals from all over the world, by telephone,
mail, and face-to-face personal visits. They even now have email
capability. Contrary to numerous reports, this is not solitary
confinement.

Caldwell’s description does not, in fact, refute the fact that the
two men are held for 23 hours a day in closed cells that measure
approximately 6 x 9 feet–smaller than the average parking space. CCR, or
Closed Cell Restricted, is the Louisiana prison system’s euphemism of
choice for solitary confinement.

In addition to challenging their convictions, Wallace and Woodfox have filed a civil suit in
federal court, arguing that their 40 years in solitary confinement
violate the U.S. Constitution. Their lawyers argue that both have
endured physical injury and “severe mental anguish and other
psychological damage” from living most of their adult lives in lockdown.
According to medical reports submitted to the court, the men suffer
from arthritis, hypertension, and kidney failure, as well as memory
impairment, insomnia, claustrophobia, anxiety, and depression. Even the
psychologist brought in by the state confirmed these findings.

In his statement, Caldwell warns that if they win their civil suit,
“these convicted murderers…could possibly receive money and a change in
their housing assignments.” Any move out of solitary has been firmly
opposed by the warden of Angola, Burl Cain. In a 2008 deposition,
attorneys for Woodfox asked Cain, “Let’s just for the sake of argument
assume, if you can, that he is not guilty of the murder of Brent
Miller.” Cain responded, “Okay, I would still keep him in CCR…I still
know that he is still trying to practice Black Pantherism, and I still
would not want him walking around my prison because he would organize
the young new inmates. I would have me all kind of problems, more than I
could stand, and I would have the blacks chasing after them.”

Caldwell himself has even more vociferously opposed releasing the men
from solitary. An ambitious Democrat-turned-Republican known for his
Elvis impersonations, Caldwell took office in 2007 and was reelected in
2011. He has characterized the Angola 3 as political radicals and called
Woodfox “the most dangerous person on the planet.”

In the fall of 2008, after Woodfox’s conviction was overturned for
the second time, a federal court judge ordered him released on bail
pending the state’s appeal. Caldwell opposed the release “with every
fiber of my being.” Woodfox planned to stay with his niece, but his
lawyers uncovered evidence that the state had emailed the neighborhood
association of the gated community where she lived to say that a
murderer would be moving in next door. Caldwell soon convinced the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals to revoke Woodfox’s bail. He also brought
Woodfox’s habeas case to the full Fifth Circuit, which reversed the
lower court ruling and reinstated his conviction.

Now that a federal judge has ruled, for the third time, that
Woodfox did not receive a fair trial, Caldwell apparently feels the need
to reiterate his position. “Let me be clear,” his statement
concludes. ”Woodfox and Wallace are GUILTY and have NEVER been held in
solitary confinement” (emphasis in the original).

Read Robert H. King's Autobiography

Angola 3 Basics

44 years ago, deep in rural Louisiana, three young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000 acre former slave plantation called Angola.

Peaceful, non-violent protest in the form of hunger and work strikes organized by inmates caught the attention of Louisiana’s elected leaders and local media in the early 1970s. They soon called for investigations into a host of unconstitutional and extraordinarily inhumane practices commonplace in what was then the “bloodiest prison in the South.” Eager to put an end to outside scrutiny, prison officials began punishing inmates they saw as troublemakers.

At the height of this unprecedented institutional chaos, Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, and Robert King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown into 6x9 foot solitary cells where they remained for decades.

“Hezekiah was one you could put words in his mouth,” the Warden reminisced chillingly in an interview about the case years later.

Notably, Teenie Rogers, the widow of the victim, prison guard Brent Miller, after reviewing the evidence believed Herman and Albert’s trials were unfair, expressed grave doubts about their guilt, and called upon officials to find the real killer. "“Each time I look at the evidence in this case, I remember there is no proof that the men charged with Brent’s death are the ones who actually killed him. It’s easy to get caught up in vengeance and anger, but when I look at the facts, they just do not add up,” said Rogers in 2013.

Albert’s conviction was overturned three times by judges citing racial discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate defense, and suppression of exculpatory evidence. While the case worked its way through endless appeals, Louisiana officials refused to release Albert from solitary, even when no longer convicted of the crime, because “there’s been no rehabilitation” from “practicing Black Pantherism.”4

Finally, Albert was released in February of 2016, 43 years and 10 months after first being put in isolation for a crime he didn’t commit.

Louisiana today has the highest incarceration rate in the US—thus the highest in the world.

Three-fourths of the 5,000+ prisoners at Angola are African American. And due to some of the harshest sentencing practices in the nation, 97% will die there.

Reminiscent of a bygone era, inmates still harvest cotton, corn and wheat for 4 to 20 cents an hour under the watchful eye of armed guards on horseback.

We believe that only by openly examining the failures and inequities of the criminal justice system in America can we restore integrity to that system.

We must not wait.

We can make a difference.

As the A3 did years before, now is the time to challenge injustice and demand that the innocent and wrongfully incarcerated be freed.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

In 2000, Herman, Albert and Robert filed a civil lawsuit challenging the inhumane and increasingly pervasive practice of long-term solitary confinement. Magistrate Judge Dalby described their decades of isolation as “so far beyond the pale” she could not find “anything even remotely comparable in the annals of American jurisprudence.” Over the course of 16 years, this seminal case detailed unconstitutionally cruel and unusual treatment and systematic due process violations at the hands of Louisiana officials and inspired worldwide action to end long term solitary.

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Stepping Across to Freedom

Please join us in laying the foundation for Albert’s new life. We’ll never be able to make up for over four decades in solitary but those of us in minimum security know how costly life out here can be. 100% of all donations will be given directly to Albert.

You can use the "Support Our Work" donate button (directly above) or go directly to our fiscal sponsor, Community Futures Collective and designate "Albert" in the memo.

From the entire Angola 3 community- thank you.

Amnesty International video interview with Robert H King: "Slavery Still Reigns in US Prisons"

Angola 3 News, a project of the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3, presents the latest news about the A3, and we also create our own media projects, spotlighting the issues central to the story of the A3, like racism, repression, prisons, human rights, solitary confinement as torture, and more. Our articles and videos have been published by Alternet, Truthout, Black Commentator, Black Agenda Report, SF Bay View Newspaper, Counterpunch, Facing South, Poor Magazine, Monthly Review, Z Magazine, LA Progressive, Dissident Voice, New Clear Vision, Nation of Change, Infoshop News, WW4 Report, Firedoglake, Indymedia, and many others.

Please help spread the word about our website and online networking at You Tube, Care2, Twitter, Facebook. For more info, please contact the A3 Coalition and visit our other websites:

Kenny 'Zulu' Whitmore

Zulu has been in Louisiana State Prison, Angola, LA since March 14, 1977. He had been in jail since 1975.

After threats and torture if he did not plead guilty, an unfair trial and the use of false information, Zulu was in '77 sentenced to life + 99 years for the 1973 murder of the former mayor of a small town, in which he had no part whatsoever.

Get a Zulu T-Shirt

FreeZulu.org

Kenny 'Zulu' Whitmore

“Zulu is a true warrior, Panther, a servant of the people. He has fought a good battle, for so long, unrecognized, unsupported!” --Robert Hillary King

ABOUT ZULU:

I am Kenny Zulu Whitmore. I have been enslaved in one of the most brutal and bloodiest prisons in the USA, Angola, LA, the "last slave plantation". Framed for a murder I never committed I have been in solitary confinement for over 30 years now.....

In December 1973 I was arrested on frivolous charges and held over for a magistrate hearing where a bond would be set. While awaiting my court appearance I found myself in a cage right across from a black man who struck me as a fearsome revolutionary. It turned out to be Herman Wallace. I was impressed with his words of wisdom, which enabled me to better understand the treatment and condition of my community by the police. I felt honored just to have been in his presence. There were others on the unit, but all you could hear was the voice of Herman. We talked all through the night after he learned why I was arrested. He explained that if my concern was to protect the people, my only route of doing so would be to educate myself of the political Kingdom and then organize the people to effectively challenge the ill that cripple the people. I realized my speaking out against drug dealers and police brutality alone would be viewed as a personal war and wouldn't achieve anything.

Herman told me he and others had established a chapter of the Black Panther Party in Angola, to fight against prison corruption. I gave him all my information because what he spoke of was what I needed in my life. I dare say it was my first true political education. The next day I learned he was there on trial for the death of a prison guard. At that time I believed he didn't stand a chance. In the mean time history has proven I was wrong. However, instead of focusing on his trial, he had many questions about community service and conditions. I ended up giving him my name and address. He told me he was officially making me a member of the Angola Chapter of the Black Panther Party. I was very honored but I had no idea what this man expected of me. But I knew about the Panthers and so I went back to the community with the idea of organizing the community against illegal drug trafficking.

On February 19, 1975 I was arrested again. This time charged with two counts of armed robbery of a Zachary shoe store. In June of 1975 all charges were dropped after both victims argued with the judge that I was not the person who did this crime. But I still couldn't go free...Read more here.WRITE ZULU: